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a weapon that can make readers laugh out loud in agreement, or clench their teeth with frustration and anger in opposition. To create a cartoon that strikes a chord with the public requires inspiration, lateral thinking, and the ability to see humour where others only see news.
Introduction, Bringing the House Down, <www.can.net.au/articles/1998/cartoon.htm>
Kniv es Ex
*The Chinese symbol or pictogram for satire comprises laughing and knives.
Activity 1
Creating a Cartoon
Look in your daily newspaper and you will find at least one cartoon about a current news item. The cartoon might be: a comment on an issue about a particular person in the news a reference to a particular event or it might be a combination of these things.
1.1 Think of an event, issue or person in the news today, and draw your own cartoon about it. Dont worry if you cannot draw well the main thing is just to have a go at this stage.
1.2
2
Share your cartoon with a classmate. Discuss what you were trying to achieve and how you were trying to achieve it. What were the main problems or difficulties that you experienced in your attempt?
Activity 2
2.1
The cartoon was drawn by Bill Leak. Look at the top left-hand corner of the cartoon. It shows two different ways he could draw the Prime Minister.
2.2 2.3 Describe the difference between the two images. What different impressions are given by these two images?
This cartoon was created in response to the issue of cash for comment where public commentators, such as radio shock-jocks, were accused of accepting payments or favours from organisations to promote (or at least not to criticise) those organisations. The cartoonist responded, producing a cartoon that commented on the issue in a humorous but very pointed way.
2.4 2.5 2.6 Now that you know the context, what do you think is the message of this cartoon? Who is the target? Do you think this is a successful cartoon? Discuss the elements that make it a success, or that fail to work for you.
Activity 3
3.1
As you may have discovered by trying to draw your own cartoon, there are many elements that go together to make a successful and effective cartoon. Here are four key elements that need to be considered when you are responding to and analysing a political cartoon. When analysing and responding to a cartoon you need to examine its: context the circumstances in which it was created content the details of what it shows target who or what it is directed at style how it presents the content, through images, words and humour which taken together determine its message the key point it is trying to make, or the idea it is putting forward. In this unit, you will be asked to examine and analyse a number of political cartoons by applying the above elements to them. In this way, you will be considering how political cartoonists go about their work. As a result, you will then be in a position to decide how effective and influential political cartoons can be. Finally, you will be invited to create your own political cartoon for a special competition.
*Satire where an artist exposes and denounces vice, folly, abuses etc. to scorn and ridicule. **Caricature a picture or description that ludicrously exaggerates the peculiarities or defects of persons or things.
Activity 4
4.1
Context
Content
Target
Style
Message
Alan Moir, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 October 2001
Context
Content
Target
Style
The beauty of it is that its highly contagious and costs almost nothing to produce
Message
Both cartoons are commenting on the same issue but their targets are very different.
4.2 4.3
5
Who is the target of the Moir cartoon? Who is the target of the Pryor cartoon? Why do you think cartoonists can have different targets for the same issue?
4.4
Activity 5
5.1 5.2 5.3
Peter Lewis, Newcastle Herald, 18 October 2001 Steven Moore, Weekend Australian Review, 24 March 2001
Is caricature good-natured or cruel? How do you think the person being caricatured might feel about it? Why do you think cartoonists use caricature in their drawings?
Activity 6
6.1
Context
Content
Target
Style
Message
John Butcher, Green Left Weekly, 19 September 2001
Context
Content
Target
Style
Message
Alan Moir, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 2001
Activity 6
Content
Target
Style
Message
Jo Waite, Arena Magazine, AugustSeptember 2000
Identify the use of irony in each of the cartoons. Why do you think each cartoonist chooses to use irony? Do you think irony is an effective tool or weapon for cartoonists to use? Explain your reasons.
Activity 7
7.1
Context
Content
Target
Style
Message
John Ditchburn, Ballarat Courier, 10 September 2001
Context
Content
Target
Style
Nope, nopefull up Im afraid
Message
Bill Leak, The Australian, September 2001
7.2 7.3
What idea or approach is common to each cartoon? Do you think one cartoon has realised or presented the idea more effectively than the other? Explain your reasons.
Activity 8
8.1
Context
Content
Target
Style
Message
Cathy Wilcox, The Age, 19 January 2001
Context
Content
Target
Style
AUSTRALIA HOME OF THE GOODWILL GAMES
Message
Mark Knight, Herald Sun, 29 August 2001
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Activity 8
Content
Target
Style
Message
I know its extremely unaustralian of me, but Id like to welcome you to our shores
8.2 8.3
Describe in words what idea or argument each cartoon is presenting to the reader. Discuss which cartoons rely more on the image to carry the message, and which rely more on the intellectual argument being expressed to carry that message. Do you find the argument conveyed by each cartoon equally convincing? Explain your reasons. Look again at all the cartoons presented in this unit. Decide which is your favourite and least favourite one. Explain what it is that appeals or does not appeal to you in each case.
8.4 8.5
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Activity 9
9.1
A cartoon shows a distressed Jewish person carrying all his possessions in a bundle on a stick outside Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942, about to enter the gate marked Work brings freedom. The next panel shows the same distressed Jewish person carrying a rifle outside Israel in 2002, about to enter a gate marked War brings peace. A cartoon shows an alien space creature at an Australian immigration counter being asked a series of standard questions: name, place of origin, how did you travel here etc. For each, the space creature gives an appropriately sci-fi answer. When asked Reason for entry? the creature replies Colonisation and subjugation of your species. The official is unmoved, and asks the next question: Are you a Muslim?, to which the reply is: No. The official waves the creature through, saying Have a nice day. A cartoon shows a wounded and bleeding giant United States character on its hands and knees and in distress after September 11 2001, watched by a surrounding throng of people.
Near a news item quoting the Prime Minister saying that supervised heroin injection rooms sent the wrong messages about drugs, a cartoon shows the Prime Minister pulling a blanket over a dead young drug addict saying, Good boy. You are sending out all the RIGHT messages. As an alternative to the above, the cartoon shows the Prime Minister looking into a window of a supervised heroin injecting room and saying This is a disgrace!!, while behind him are three dead drug addicts sprawled in an alley.
A cartoon shows ordinary American people marching along carrying American flags. It is headed: The rise of fundamentalism in the West.
A cartoon after the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996 shows a redneck and his son crouching under a table at the caf while the killer lets loose with his gun. The man says admiringly, Now thats what I call gun control.
A cartoon shows Australian troops aboard a warship heading for Afghanistan leaving the dock. A woman waving them off asks: What exactly are they going to fight for? Her companion says, Well have to wait till the movie comes out.
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Activity 10
[A cartoon] provokes people into thinking again about an issue I am interested in affecting the people in the middle, the swinging voter if you like.
Cartoonist Bruce Petty, Good Weekend Magazine 13 July 2002 pp. 16, 19
Drawing a cartoon is a way of expressing my anger and hopefully at the same time making other people angry about it.
Cartoonist Phil Somerville, Good Weekend Magazine 13 July 2002 p. 17
A cartoon is looking under and behind the surface of events, reading between the lines, unravelling the spin doctors spinning.
Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox, Good Weekend Magazine 13 July 2002 p. 17
I dont think it really matters if youre a left-wing cartoonist or a right-wing cartoonist, as long as you make your point clearly and in a hard-hitting way, youve got the potential there to make people think.
Cartoonist Bill Leak, <pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/11157/20010606/ reportage.uts.edu.au/stories/aug00/23choice.html>
Some critics, however, argue that cartoons can in fact be a destructive rather than a positive force in a democracy, white-anting that democracy.
10.2 Look at this comment, and discuss the idea that cartoons might actually harm democracy.
The nature of the cartooning medium ensures that there is a lack of balance in the graphic comment on politics. Cartoons that praise politics, politicians or the political institutions do not appear because they would not be humorous The problem is that, if cartoons have any impact on public opinion it is in the direction of increasing cynicism about politics, politicians and the political system It is healthy in a democracy to make fun of people in power who take themselves too seriously or who try to cover over their inconsistencies with bluster or propaganda. The best political satire can cut to the core of political debate and highlight the real choices available in a working democracy. However, there probably also needs to be some consideration of the boundary lines between healthy satire and a more destructive cynicism.
Michael Hogan, Cartoonists and Political Cynicism, The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, Vol. 2 No. 1 July 2001, pp. 4748.
10.3 To test this last comment, go back and look at each of the cartoons in this unit. Decide what image of the democratic system it presents. You should consider such aspects as: how politicians are presented their honesty their motivation their leadership qualities. 10.4 Taken together, do you think that they support the argument that cartoons erode and create a lack of confidence in the Australian political system? Explain your reasons.
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Activity 11
Do cartoons help or harm democracy?
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Activity 12
Activity 13
You can find information on cartooning at <www.horacek.com.au/home.htm> <www.scratch.com.au/> <cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons/>
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'Laughing with Knives' Exploring Political Cartoons Written by: Schools Programs Section National Museum of Australia 2002 Produced by Schools Programs Section National Museum of Australia GPO Box 1901 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6208 5119 Fax: (02) 6208 5198 Email: schools@nma.gov.au Website: www.nma.gov.au Designed by Polar Design Pty Ltd, Carlton, Victoria All efforts have been made to find the copyright of materials used in this publication. Any contraventions are accidental and will be redressed. For any copyright matters please contact the Schools Section of the National Museum of Australia.
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Teachers are welcome to duplicate any pages in this publication for educational purposes in their classrooms.